Abia State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Onyekwere Akym Uche (OAU), has declared that his emergence as Governor would mark the end of “a sad era where Abia workers would have to go on strike or embark on street protest to get paid”.
In an interview with journalists in Umuahia, Onyekwere lamented the plight of Abia workers after months of unpaid wages.
He was particularly concerned about the ongoing indefinite strike declared by doctors in the state in response to the 25-month salary arrears owed to doctors at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba, ABSUTH, and the 13-month salary arrears owed to their counterparts at the Health Management Board, HMB.
Given the importance of the health sector, he urged the State Government to act quickly to avoid the situation devolving into a crisis.
” No responsible Government toys with the health sector”, he fumed, adding that “abroad people get paid weekly; it’s crazy to hear a worker is owed for two years, I mean this is evil”.
If elected, Onyekwere promised to address insecurity and bad roads in his first year in office, noting that without addressing both issues, the drive for foreign investors would remain elusive.
According to him, the majority of roads in Abia are death traps, which he blames on the state’s economic backwardness.
He urged Abians not to vote for those who became wealthy through fraudulent government contracts, arguing that those who colluded with corrupt government officials to defraud the state should not be given political power.
The ABSU-trained US-based economist promised to revive and revolutionize agriculture, as envisioned by Dr Michael Okpara, the late Premier of the Old Eastern Region.
OAU blamed the state’s woes on wasteful spending and a lack of ideas, claiming that under his watch, Abia could earn more than $2 billion annually from agricultural exports alone.
He promised to create opportunities for Abia youths to work in mechanized agriculture, citing the high demand for various agricultural products in the state.
“The US needs cholesterol-free oil, China needs our bitter leaves, and we can produce and ship this to them for pennies on the dollar and make billions of dollars every year,” he said.
He vowed not to rely solely on monthly allocations to run the state, but rather to take advantage of the vast opportunities, human and natural resources available in the state to generate revenue internally.
The 49-year-old challenged Abia youths to unite behind a fellow youth in order to seize power from those who hold the state back.
“It is time for youths to reclaim our state if our children are not to be slaves to the power hawks who have hijacked this state,” he declared.
He promised to run an honest, transparent, and accountable government free of corruption.
